We Accuse:
Bill Epton Speaks to the Court

In Memoriam: Bill Epton, 1932-2002

On July 16, 1964, a New York City cop, Thomas Gilligan, shot and
killed a 15-year old African-American high school student, James Powell, in cold
blood. Over the next few days, the people of Harlem rose up in one of the first
major northern rebellions in that period, marking a new stage in the Black
Liberation Movement.

At that time, Bill Epton was vice chair of the Progressive Labor
(PL) and chair of its Harlem branch. Epton and his comrades plastered the
streets of Harlem with a poster: Wanted For Murder  Gilligan the Cop.
The city administration declared a state of emergency in Harlem, prohibiting all
demonstrations. While most of the reformist leaders went along with this ban,
Epton and the Harlem branch of PL called for a peaceful rally on 125th Street
for July 25. When Epton and the others began to march, he was arrested, charged
with "criminal anarchy." Epton was tried, found guilty and sentenced
to one year in prison. This speech was made to the court at his sentencing
hearing on July 27, 1966.

Epton was eventually released on bail while he appealed his
conviction. Meanwhile, Progressive Labor began to change its line on the
national question. They denounced all national liberation movements (such as in
Vietnam) that did not aim directly for socialism; they also opposed the Black
Liberation Movement in the U.S. for not going directly towards socialism. Around
1969, Epton left PL, taking almost all of their Black cadre in New York with
him. PL responded by attacking Epton with racist slanders.

Ironically, it was only after Epton left PL, while he was
involved in new attempts to unite revolutionary Marxists in the U.S. in the
early 1970s, that the appeal of his conviction was rejected and he was forced to
serve the remainder of his year in prison.

Bill Epton continued to fight against the conditions of
oppression and exploitation of working people in general and Black people in
particular until the end of his life. As he said in his speech, "I will
fight against these conditions as long as there is a breath in my body!"

Bill Epton died on January 23, 2002 in New York City. The
struggle continues!

Introduction

Bill Epton, who fought against police brutality, against the
conditions which the Black people of Harlem are forced to live under, who helped
organize the people against those who oppress them, places the greatest stress
on education and action  knowyour enemy, know how to fight them and
know what you want  is the maxim. Socialism, the answer to all of the
problems which beset the Black people, and all working people, is the new
society for which Bill Epton and the PLP struggle daily. The struggle for
socialism, for a radical transformation of the basis of this society, and Bill
Epton's role in struggling for that noble cause is the reason for the trial, for
the persecutions and is the background for the speech to the court "We
Accuse."

This pamphlet, published by the Progressive Labor Party,
contains the entire speech made by Vice-President Bill Epton before receiving
sentence in New York State Supreme Court for a conviction of "criminal
anarchy."

Bill Epton, Chairman of the Harlem branch of the PLP,
electrician, husband and father of two, was convicted for his beliefs and for
his steadfast refusal to become an informer and a traitor to his people and his
ideas.

Bill Epton, Black leader in the nation's largest ghetto and
revolutionary, has continuously urged his brothers and sisters to refuse to
fight in the genocidal war of aggression in Vietnam and all wars of aggression
against oppressed people anywhere.

Bill Epton, representative of American revolutionary
socialists, indicts the system of monopoly capitalism, charges imperialism with
crimes against humanity and urges all men everywhere to organize to fight
imperialism, colonialism and all forces which continue to oppress the people of
the world.

New York, February 2, 1966

Published by the Progressive Labor Party
G;P.O. Box 808
Brooklyn 1, New York

Background To The Case

1964

July 16  James Powell, 15-year old Negro schoolboy, is
shot three times and killed by off-duty policeman Lt. Thomas Gilligan.

July 18-21  People of Harlem demonstrate in the
streets against the slaying of the Powell boy, calling for the immediate
prosecution and dismissal of Lt. Gilligan, resignations of Police Commissioner
Murphy and Mayor Wagner.

July 18  William Epton, Vice-Chairman of the
Progressive Labor Movement, and Chairman of its Harlem branch, and members of
the Harlem Defense Council, call for a peaceful demonstration on Saturday, July
25.

July 25  Epton, along with Conrad Lynn, his lawyer,
characterize Murphy's ban as "illegal and a violation of the
Constitution." They begin a march in defiance of the ban. Both are arrested
and charged with "disorderly conduct" and "unlawful
assembly." Epton is released that night on $1,000 bail. Fifty people,
including Epton, are handed "John Doe" injunctions, signed by District
Attorney Hogan and Mayor Wagner, enjoining the "defendants... from
assembly, gathering together, convening, parading, marching, demonstrating, or
acting in concert in public areas "

August 3  District Attorney Hogan and Mayor Wagner
summon a Grand Jury, known as the 2nd August Grand Jury  the 1st August Grand
Jury was convened to "investigate the charges against Lt. Gilligan."

August 5  William Epton is indicted by the 2nd August
Grand Jury and charged with "criminal anarchy" and "conspiring to
overthrow the Government of the State of New York," under a 1902 law last
used in 1921.

First Week of September  Lt. Gilligan cleared by 1st
August Grand Jury of any "wrong doing" in the Powell murder.

September 13  Five people: two printers, a
schoolteacher, the Chairman of the Harlem Defense Council and an activist in the
Harlem PLM are picked up at 6 A.M. at their homes for refusing to answer
questions put before them by the 2nd August Grand Jury. The five, the first to
be arrested in pre-dawn raids, are charged with "perjury" and
"criminal contempt" of the Grand Jury  which carry sentences of
from one to five years in prison and up to $1,000 in fines. Bill Epton is called
by Asst. District Phillips and asked to make a "deal": to testify
against members and friends of the PLM to gain his freedom.

October 27  Epton trial date set after denial of
appeals by attorney Conrad Lynn charging that the sections of the New York State
law under which Epton was charged were unconstitutional.

December 18  Motions are made in court on behalf of
the first five victims of the Grand Jury inquisition.

December 21  The Grand Jury issues new subpoenas to
youth and students active in peace and community groups. Among those asked to
testify against Epton and other leaders of the Progressive Labor Movement were:
Levi Laub, Ellen Shallit, Mike Brown, Robert Apter, Susan Karp, Steve Martinot,
Otis Chestnut, Jerry Gellis  representing the Student Committee for Travel to
Cuba; Cerge, the legal defense organization aiding Epton, the "Harlem
Six," and victims of the Grand Jury; the May 2nd Movement, a student
anti-imperialist peace organization; and the 118th Street Block Association.

December 28  Epton enters court to test travel
restrictions set on him. He subsequently loses the suit and is required to get
special permission to leave New York City.

1965

January 18  Community organizers Genoveva Clemente, Ed
Lemansky, students Elinor Goldstein and Wendy Nakashima and PL Challenge Editor
Walter Linder, an unemployed railroader, are called before the Grand Jury.

January 19  Judge Arthur Braun throws out sections of
the indictment against the first five victims.

January 27  Elinor Goldstein, student at the City
College of New York, is jailed for "civil contempt" of the Grand Jury
and is sent to jail for 30 days.

March 9  New pre-dawn raids are made on the homes of
seven people called on December 18. The seven are charged with "criminal
contempt" of the Grand Jury, facing one year and $1,000 fine.

March 11  Elinor Goldstein, released from a 30-day
sentence for refusal to answer questions, is re-subpoenaed, again refusesto
answer questions and is sent to the notorious Women's House of Detention (then
under investigation for "dungeon conditions") for 30 days.

March 25  Epton trial again postponed to April 9.

March 27  Vivian Anderson, a Harlem school teacher and
sole support for her young son, is shifted from the Women's House of Detention
after a publicity and leafleting campaign. Mrs. Anderson was one of the first
victims of the Grand Jury.

March 29  Grand Jury hearings postponed.

March 30  Epton and Attorney Lynn are acquitted on
charges of "disorderly conduct" and "unlawful assembly"
arising from the July 25th demonstration.

April 5 Thefirst five victims are
sentenced to four months in prison after serving almost one month awaiting
sentencing.

April 7  Motions are heard in the case of the second
seven victims of the Grand Jury, augmented by entry into the case of the eighth
victim  steel worker Steve Martinot.

April 9  Elinor Goldstein, released from her second
30-day sentence, is recalled before the Grand Jury. The ACLU agrees to enter her
case and the subpoena is quashed.

Mrs. Anderson is returned to the Women's House of Detention.

April 15  Mrs. Anderson, released from prison, is
fired by the New York City Board of Education.

April 27  Hearings in the case of the second eight are
held.

May 3  Epton case postponed from April 9.

May 12  Eight defendants plead "not guilty"
and trial date is set for May 25.

May 24  Libel suit entered by Lt. Gilligan against
Rev. Martin Luther King, James Farmer, CORE, Bill Epton, Jesse Gray, PLM, HDC,
the printshop and owner of the print shop for the "Wanted for Murder 
Gilligan the Cop" leaflet. Suit is for $5 million.

June 7  Epton trial postponed from May 5 over the
objections of Attorney Lynn. Court orders District Attorney to be ready for
trial or the case will be dropped.

July 15  Epton trial postponed to August 2. Mayor
Wagner, speaking to group of students while traveling in Denmark says: the
rebellion was "a social revolution  a demand by a minority for equal
rights." (N.Y. Times, July 7, 1965).

July 22  Epton pleads "not guilty" and
motions to dismiss the indictment are put off by the judge.

August 2  Epton trial postponed.

August 17  Hearings on bill of particulars in the
Epton case held. Meanwhile, the "criminal anarchy" indictment is
dropped and a new indictment, this time for "advocacy" of
"criminal anarchy," is drawn up by the District Attorney. Epton is
arrested in court and released on $10,000 bail.

September 30  The 2nd August Grand Jury is extended
for the fifth time. It can legally continue until February, 1966.

October 14  Epton trial begins. He requests change of
attorneys but the court refuses his desired lawyer, Len Holt of Virginia. The
judge instructs Holt, a militant Negro attorney with a long history of fighting
civil rights and liberties cases, "Your role in this court is to be quiet
and act like a gentleman."

December 20  Epton is found guilty on all counts and
is remanded to jail despite pleas that he be permitted to spend holidays with
his wife and two small children.

1966

January 20  Walter Linder, Charles Rosen and Joan
Sekler are arrested by District Attorney's office for "criminal
contempt" of the Grand Jury. They are arrested over ten months after they
were called to testify and are to appear in court February 10 to begin with
trial proceedings.

January 27  Bill Epton, facing 12 years in prison and
$6,000 fine is sentenced to one year in prison on all counts. His attorney, Mrs.
Piel, demands thatthe trial be declared invalid and Epton makes a fiery
speech to the Court before sentencing. The courtroom, moved to cheers by Epton's
speech, is cleared and picketing by over 100 people begins outside the
courthouse.

Repeated demands for bail have been denied and Epton
continues his stay in prison while the attorneys attempt to get him released,
also attempting to get a judge to permit them to appeal the conviction.

We Accuse

Bill Epton Speaks to the Court

I would like to address a few remarks to this court and its
government.

You have judged me "guilty" and have labeled me a
"criminal" and also "dangerous." I have been found
"guilty" by a "jury of my peers." On this I will have more
to say later.

Now  let me examine what I have been found
"guilty" of doing and saying:

I have been found "guilty" of agitating against the
conditions that my people are forced to liveunder in New York and all
over the country.

I have been found "guilty" of protesting the murder
 yes, murder  or legal lynching, whatever you choose, of James Powell by
Thomas Gilligan, a New York policeman.

I have been found "guilty" of organizing the Harlem
community against police brutality that has been occurring in the Black ghettos
for hundreds of years. I have been found "guilty" of standing up for
the right of all men to be free  to be free from the system of exploitation
of man by man.

I have been found "guilty" of proclaiming that
capitalism is an oppressive system and that socialism is the only solution for
mankind to live in peace and humanity.

I have been found "guilty" of demanding that the
U.S government take its troops out of Vietnam and stop its genocidal war against
the Vietnamese people.

I have been found "guilty" of asking the question
of Black boys and men, "What are you doing in the U.S. Army fighting your
colored brothers around the world who are engaged in battle against the same
government that is oppressing you?" and "Is it in your interest to
kill and be killed to support a racist government?"

I have been found "guilty" of being an outspoken
critic of the U.S. government and its paramilitary police force.

I have been found "guilty" of publicly advocating
socialism to cure the ills of the Black people of the country and the workers in
general.

And finally  I have been found "guilty" of being
a communist  and a Black one at that!

If these are the "crimes" that I have been found
"guilty" of committing, then I am "guilty" a thousand times
over. In fact, I will be "guilty" of these "crimes" as long
as the conditions exist, and I will fight against these conditions as long as
there is a breath in my body!

For that matter the State (and in this case I mean New York
State) didn't have to waste the taxpayers' money on this trial  money that is
needed to employ the unemployed, to build new houses for the poorly housed,
schools that are sorely needed in the ghettos, hospitals that are needed for the
sick and aged, recreation centers for the youth and cultural centers to raise
the cultural level of the people.

You didn't have to use all of these policemen to follow me,
tap my phone, join our organization, "bug" our offices and homes and
harass our members when they should have been out arresting slumlords and those
people who are bringing narcotics to Harlem  and they know who they are.

You didn't have to expose, for the world to see, how
desperately you are afraid of dissent. No  you didn't have to do any of this.
All you had to do was ask me and I would have told you.

What did we do?

Did we put out various leaflets, offered here as so-called
"evidence," against police brutality that is committed against the
Black and Puerto Rican people? Yes, we did!

Did we put out leaflets calling for more and better schools
in Harlem, and in the city in general? Yes, we did!

Did we put out leaflets demanding more and better houses in
Harlem, and in the city in general; with the rents averaging 10 per cent of a
worker's income? Yes, we did!

Did we put out leaflets protesting the brutality that was
committed against the "Harlem Six" and in their defense? Yes, we did!

Did we protest the fact that these courts denied them the
right to have lawyers of their own choosing? Yes, we did!

Did we issue leaflets demanding jobs for the unemployed and
the under-employed? Yes, we did!

Did we issue leaflets and speak out against racism in this
country  from the U.S. government on down? Yes, we did!

Did we help organize the Harlem Defense Council to
protect the people of Harlem? Yes, we did!

Did we call for a Peoples' Police Control Board over
the activities of the Police Department? Yes, we did!

Did we issue the Gilligan Wanted for Murder poster?
Yes, we did!

Did I write articles exposing the U.S. government's role in
the rape of the Congo? Yes, I did!

And do I support the Congolese people in their struggle to
regain control of their country? Yes, I do!

Did I speak and agitate on the streets of Harlem, and all
over the city, for a better way of life for the people of this city and country?
Yes, I did!

Did I help to organize the people of Harlem around specific
demands during the "police riots" of July 1964? Yes, I did!

Did I write an article TheNegro Question and theRight to Revolution that came out in its final form entitled Black
Self-Determination? Yes, I did! It can be purchased on many newsstands in
this city and around the country.

Did we distribute a Draft Strategic Program that also
appeared in its final form in Progressive Labor magazine that presented
our position on the problems facing the American people and what we consider the
solution to be? Yes, we did! This copy of the magazine can also be bought on the
newsstands for fifty cents. You don't have to "infiltrate" an
organization to get a copy.

If the District Attorney's office, the Bureau of Special
Services and the FBI consider this the activity of a "secret"
organization, then they are blinder and stupider than their mildest critics
would even imagine!

And  If you ask me, am I a communist?  the answer is yes,
Iam!

You didn't have to have a trial to "prove" these
things. All you had to do was ask me and I would have told you  Yes! There's
no problem  There's no secret  whatever we write and publish we sign with
our name, address and phone number. We are willing and not afraid to put out
ideas in the public view.

Did you, at any time, think that we would deny what we do and
have done? Did you think that we would deny what we hold to be true and what we
believe in? Do you think that all people in this country have been so
"brain dirtied" and have been so thoroughly corrupted that they are
afraid to express an independent thought  to stand up for what they believe
and fight for it? Well, there are people in this country who are governed by
ideas that do not come out of the pages of the Times and the Daily
News, and their numbers grow every day. And I am sure that this so-called
"trial" has opened up many more eyes.

Whatever we do and whatever we believe in  we do and
believe that it is in the interest of the people of this country; And yes  we
are proud to have done it and to be doing it and we stand behind our actions
four-square!

Are public expressions opposed to the government "conspiracies"?

Now, we ask:

Is this system and government attempting to deny us the right
to our political views and deny us the right to express these views openly,
publicly and honestly? If this is what they are attempting, we shall refuse to
give up this right. We will not be intimidated into giving up our rights to
speak openly and freely and we will fight to maintain this right.

In referring to the U.S. Attorney General's order forbidding
certain classes of foreign visitors from speaking in this country, Alexander
Meiklejohn stated, which holds true in this case also:

"Why may we not hear what these men from other
counties, other systems of government, have to say? For what purpose has the
Attorney General imposed limits upon their speaking, upon our hearing? The
plain truth is that he is seeking to protect the minds of the citizens of this
nation of ours from the influence of emotions, of doubts, of questions, of
plans, of principles which the government judges to be too 'dangerous' for us
to hear. He is afraid that we, whose agent he is, will be led astray by
opinions which are alien and subversive. Do We, the People of the United
States, wish to be so mentally 'protected?' To say that would seem to be an
admission that we are intellectually and morally unfit to play our part in
what Justice Holmes has called the 'experiment' of self-government. Have we,
on that ground, abandoned or qualified the great experiment? In our discussion
of public policy at home, do we intend that 'dangerous' ideas shall be
suppressed? Or are they, under the Constitution, guaranteed freedom from such
suppression?"

That is the question that this court and the government
should address itself to instead of finding in our "opinions" and
ideas a "conspiracy." Because, by the logical extension of the State's
case, public expression of "opinions," ideas, writings and speech, if
they are opposed to the government, are a "conspiracy" and a
"crime."

Our political views and our program are just as valid as
those of any other political party or any other group. I say further that our
views and our program are more valid than other political parties because we
have a program that has a solution to the many problems that confront the people
of this country. And that means, in the final analysis, that it will bring world
peace, because this is the country, with its capitalist system, that is waging
war and aggression all around the world and threatening world peace. (And who
can deny that these wars are being waged against the colored peoples of Asia,
Africa and Latin America?)

If we write these articles, distribute these leaflets,
organize the people against oppression and for a redress of their grievances,
organize against the genocide committed against the Vietnamese people and
against the Congolese people, and publicly expound our views and do all of this
in a perfectly legal manner, then why am I on trial? Why was I found
"guilty" and why do I stand here about to be sentenced?

"...first the communists, then the Jews, then everyone else...,"
Hitler said.

We offer that the U.S. government stands naked before the
world for what it is  an imperialist, racist government. And since it is in
this position it must guarantee its home base, silence dissent and whip its own
people into line.

We know how this works. We saw it happen in Germany during
that country's rise to fascism. The German people said that, "It's only
those Jews and communists that they are killing and jailing." But we know
what the end result was. It may have started out "only" being the
Jewish people and the communists, but when it ended, a whole nation was
enslaved.

Is that a clear example? We think so. Because today, in this
country, people may say, "Well, it's only those niggers and Puerto Ricans
and communists." And as sure as I am standing here, they will include the
Jewish people and then, as in fascist Germany, the entire country will be
enslaved.

Today it is Bill Epton and the Progressive Labor Party that
has stood on trial for our political views and our political activities. This is
just the opening shot. Tomorrow it will be other militant voices of dissent 
the militant and active student movement, the peace movement, the college
professors and teachers who are sincerely becoming more active and outspoken
against the government's policies at home and abroad and the intellectual
community, who see the contradiction in what the government says it is and what
it does in fact. And, of course, as it has always been, the pressures on the
Black people will increase because they are on the bottom and have the least to
lose in fighting against the system. And, as we have seen in the past, when the
white workers begin to struggle for their just demands and a better way of life,
they will also be violently suppressed.

It is important that the students, intellectuals, and the
workers unite to stay the hand of this government before it is too late, and in
the same light, the Black people must organize themselves for the right of
self-determination and for their liberation.

I say here, openly and publicly, that the Black people will
not walk into the concentration camps, the furnaces and the gas chambers. We
would sooner die fighting before we allow this to happen to us. To those who
take this lightly, I say, if a government uses concentration camps (misnamed
"strategic hamlets"), gas and fire against the Vietnamese people,
what's to prevent them from carrying out the same policy here? If a government
uses fascistic methods to suppress others, it is only one step removed from
using the same methods against its own people.

And we say to white America: Where will you be? Will the
world ask the same question that the world is now asking the German people,
"Where were you? Where were you when your country was being taken over by
the industrial-military complex?" That same industrial and military complex
that even Eisenhower was moved to warn this nation to beware of when he left the
White House in 1961  even though he helped to pave their way. The point is
that even he saw the monster emerging as the dominant force in this country 
which it is today. This is the same type of industrial-military complex that
brought Hitler to power and supported him.

When the future equivalent of the Nuremberg Trials take
place, it will not be Bill Epton standing in the docket, but it will be the
Johnsons, the McNamaras, the Bundys, the Dirksens, the war-mad industrialists,
who make war for profit, and their agents, who will be tried for crimes against
humanity  the crimes against humanity that the nazis, their politicians, the
industrialists, the military, those who made and carried out the
"laws" to support that system and their subordinates were accused of
and brought to trial and convicted. These are the same crimes being committed
against humanity that their counterparts in the U.S are committing today and
have been committing.

We say, here and now, that they should not harbor the
illusion that the people here in the United States, and the people of the world,
will not wake up as they always do eventually  and bring them to justice.

We, as communists, will fight against fascism as we have
always done  no matter how it disguises itself. We will fight against
it united with all those democratic forces who truly love and want peace. We
will not be cowardly! We will continue to fight for peace and a better way of
life for the American people openly and publicly! And we will fight for it as
Marxist-Leninists! We have a right to be open and public Marxists. We will not
give up and we will not allow this government, this court or any of its agencies
to force us into taking any other position.

You have people in jail all over this country  mainly
Black, Spanish-speaking and poor whites. This system, U.S. capitalism  a
system where a few exploit the many  a system where the real criminals sit in
high places and hold lofty positions  have the audacity to judge these people
criminals: This system that forces these people to act the way they did and
rebel in the way that they rebelled. This capitalist system completely
de-humanizes mankind  particularly our own citizens  in jails where a man
is turned into nothing else but a caged animal; in ghettos, in factories they
call schools, in a moral climate where dissent is called a crime, where terror,
mass murder, submission and racism has come to be known as the American Way
of Life. And you have the nerve to call them criminals  the thief crying
"stop, thief!"

Who are the real criminals?

We ask you, who are the real criminals? Who completely,
through planned acts of genocide, destroyed the great Indian nation that once
inhabited this continent? Who are the criminals? The criminal is the U.S.
capitalist system.

We ask you, who are the criminals? Who raped Mother Africa to
enslave and murder 60 million Africans to build this nation with their bodies,
sweat and tears with almost 250 years of free labor?

Who are the criminals? The criminal is the system that lives
on greed, corruption and the exploitation of man by man. That system is the
U.S. capitalist system!

We ask you, who are the criminals? Who murdered, destroyed
the language, culture, the religion, and, in some cases, the dignity of the
Black men who were brought over here as slaves?

Who are the criminals? The criminals are the system that puts
maximum profits over and above the lives of men. Thatsystem isU.S.
capitalism!

We ask you, who are the criminals? Who, through military
power and under the slogan of "manifest destiny," colonized the
Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico and parts of other countries and reduced South
America to nothing but a source of raw materials with its people among the
poorest in the world? The criminal is the United States government.

We ask you, who arethe criminals? Who is attempting
to reduce this nation to nothing but robots to parrot their racist and
pro-fascist policy? The criminal is a system that parades around as the
"most democratic" and theleader of the "free world"
and thestrongest militarypower inthe world today, but
who really has feet of clay becauseit must silence any voice of dissent That
systemis the U.S. capitalist system!

We ask you, who are the criminals? Who, in their drive for
world domination and to cower the world at its feet, massacred nearly 150,000
civilians with two bombs, one on Nagasaki and the other on Hiroshima? That
dastardlyact was committed by the U.S. government!

We ask you, who arethe criminals? Who makes
"laws" and when their same "laws" make it possible to
dissent, turn around and either re-write them or ignore them? Who persecuted and
attempted to destroy the trade unions in the name of "national
security"? Who jailed those people who dared speak out against their
oppressive system? Who framed and murdered the Rosenbergs in the true
traditionof Hitlerite Germany? This was all done by the United States
government!

We ask you, who are the criminals? Who is attempting to
colonize the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America with a policy of
overthrowing and destroying their governments, e.g. Guatemala, Santo Domingo,
Venezuela, the Congo, south Vietnam, Laos, Brazil, British Guiana and the list
goes on and on? These acts are being committed daily by the U.S.
government and its parrots at home and abroad!

We ask you, who are the criminals? Who has systematically
poured jellied gasoline over the Vietnamese people? Who has used chemical
warfare and gas against the Vietnamese people? Who is attempting, through sheer
military power and mass murder, to either bring the people to their knees or
totally annihilate them under the slogan of "national security"? The
answer is clearly theUnited States government!

We ask you, who are the criminals?Who are the
criminals who have takenitupon themselves to become the policeforce of the world; to suppress any movement for freedom and national
liberation in Asia, Africa and Latin America? The most dangerous and very
criminalsystem istheU.S. imperialistsystem!

We ask you, who are the criminals? Who supports, militarily
and financially, every fascist and pro-fascist clique in the world? Yes,
again, it is theU.S. government!

And, we ask you, who stands alone, with increasing isolation
in the world, as the arch-enemy of the people of the world? I will tell you
who it is, it is the criminal U.S. government that is considered the most
dangerous by the people of the world!

I have 'dangerous' thoughts  ideas of Freedom!

Now you have called me "dangerous." In order to be
"dangerous" one must be "dangerous" to someone or something.
Since you have called me "dangerous" I must ask to whom am I
"dangerous" and to what am I "dangerous"?

If ideas are "dangerous" then I am
"dangerous" because I have ideas. I have ideas for a new system of
government and society. Those ideas I have are called socialism. Socialism  a
system where there will no longer exist a basis for the exploitation of man by
man; a system of government where people  all people, without reservation 
will be able to grow and develop into full human beings, where love will replace
hate, where men, all men, can develop to their fullest potential.

Yes, I have these ideas and they are "dangerous,"
to that small minority of people that presently exercises control over the
people of this country. The idea that man should, can and will be free from this
exploitation is "dangerous" and repugnant to them.

The ideas that we have are not "dangerous" to the
workers, they are not "dangerous" to the tenant farmers and
sharecroppers, and they are surely not "dangerous" to the Black
people.

This notion that you have put forth of my being
"dangerous" was also put into practice by the city administration by
deliberately falsifying and conducting a fraudulent election in the district
where I ran for State Senate. If my ideas were not so "dangerous" to
them, then why didn't they give the people a fair chance to make their choice at
the ballot box?

Yes, we have these ideas and we will continue to spread them.
And when that day comes when the American people realize that their government
is a lie, and has lied and exploited them for years, they themselves  with
their own hands  will dismember it, chase out the rascals and set up a
government of their own choosing and liking. This is as inevitable as the sun
rising and no matter what U.S. imperialism does, it cannot stop this historical
process and its own inevitable doom.

The truth was not allowed to be presented!

We have also been accused of being anarchists. Yes, we
communists have been accused of being anarchists, because what else does the
charge mean? It says that we were conspiring to commit "criminal
anarchy" and the "jury," by its finding, in essence, did
say we attempted to do this and, in fact, "we did it." Of course,
anyone who has one ounce of political sophistication knows that a communist, who
believes in the highest form of organized government  after the revolution
 is not an anarchist and has been an opponent of this doctrine since its
inception. But, as we have so graphically seen it demonstrated in this court,
the truth was not allowed to be presented.

When Professor Wilson fromPrinceton University, one
of the nation's leading scholars on Marxism and anarchism, appeared to testify
as a defense witness, in order to clarify to the "jury" and the public
that the documents presented here (or so-called "evidence") were not
documents of an anarchist or an organization that represents anarchy, those who
were present in court at that time watched that transparent blindfold, that
justice is supposed to be wearing, ripped off  and Professor Wilson was
ordered to leave the stand and not testify!

If this building, with all sorts of quotes engraved into its
wall, is supposed to represent justice, is supposed to be an "impartial
third person" whose function it is to hear and bring out the truth, if this
building and its inhabitants claimed that they performed this function, we ask,
why was Professor Wilson not allowed to testify?

I don't think that we need any crystal balls or magic
lanterns to discover the truth. Professor Wilson was not allowed to testify
because he would have put the lie to the various assertions that this was not a
political trial. He would have exposed, as a truly impartial authority, that
nothing in this indictment of the so-called "overt acts" had the
remotest connection with anarchy, and, he would, from an expert point of view,
with no ax to grind, have laid bare this sham.

Every so-called "overt" act was guaranteed us under
the First Amendment of the Constitution  the right to speak freely, to
express our ideas publicly, to criticize public officials, and especially the
government, to organize and to peacefully assemble without interference from the
State. Justice Holmes had said, and I quote:

"If, in the long run, the beliefs expressed in
proletarian dictatorships are destined to be accepted by the dominant forces
in the community, the only meaning of free speech is that they should be given
their chance and have their way."

Why are we being denied our "chance"? The answer is
that this system, with all its pretences of being strong, is a house built on
sand and, in order for it to continue its rule, it must suppress its own
Constitution or ignore it  especially the First Amendment  because it is
afraid that we are "destined to be accepted by the dominant forces" of
the country, which are the workers.

I quote again:

"The First Amendment was not written primarily for the
protection of the intellectual aristocrats who pursued knowledge solely for
the fun of the game, whose search for truth expresses nothing more than a
private intellectual curiosity or an equally private delight and pride in
mental achievement. It was written to clear the way for thinking which serves
the general welfare. It offers defense to men who plan and advocate and incite
towards corporate action for the common good. In behalf of such men it tells
us that every plan of action must have a hearing, every relevant idea of fact
or value must have consideration, whatever may be the danger which that
activity involves. It makes no difference whether a man is advocating
conscription or opposing it, speaking in favor of a war or against it,
defending democracy or attacking it, planning a communist reconstruction of
our economy or criticizing it. So long as his active words are those of
participation in public discussion and public decision of matters of public
policy, the freedom of those words may not be abridged."

So said Professor Alexander Meiklejohn, who was one of the
country's most noted authorities on the First Amendment and, no doubt, if he had
appeared here to testify, his eloquent words would have also been suppressed by
the court.

Do you wish to jail me? I am sure you do! And that's not very
difficult for the richest industrial country in the world and one of the most
powerful military countries that ever existed. No, it's not very difficult for
you to jail me, it's not very difficult. But, does this mean you have proven
your strength or does it mean you have displayed your weakness? I suggest that
you have shown to the world and the American people the depth of your weakness.

Your greatest weakness is yourself.

Why are you weak? First of all, you spend billions of dollars
on propaganda telling your people and the world what a great
"democracy" you have. You tell them you have no political prisoners.
You say that all political ideas have freedom of expression and on and on. If
your form of democracy is so great, why are you afraid of political ideas that
are so different? Why do you attempt to suppress them? If you are so sure of
your form of democracy, why don't you open the flood gates and allow all ideas
and ideologies to contend? That's a sign of strength. But you are afraid 
therefore you are strategically weak!

Secondly, only the most naive, racist and weak are not
conscious of the Harlem Rebellion of July 1964. They are the only ones that do
not know, and if they do know they are afraid of its meaning, so they look for a
scapegoat instead of digging to find the cause. They are the ones that don't
know that the people were fighting against the police terror, unemployment,
housing that doesn't provide warmth in the winter nor coolness in the summer,
houses that are infested with rats, roaches and other disease-carrying vermin,
an educational system that doesn't teach, one hospital that doesn't care for the
sick and the diseased, unemployment that is among the highest in the country,
and the highest rate of drug addiction of any community in the country. These
are among the reasons that the people rebelled.

And we all know  and the world knows  that the spark
that set it off was the cold-blooded murder of James Powell by Thomas Gilligan
of the New York Police Department.

Who can deny these facts but a blind man as a liar?

Would a weak government, as a strong government, admit that
it created the conditions for that type of outbreakto occur? A
strong government would, but a government like this one, which, on the surface,
appears to be strong, would do exactly what you are doing  ignore
the conditions, buy off some of the "respectable" leaders, find a
likely scapegoat and put the blame on him. I knew and everyone else in
Harlem knew, that I was going to be the scapegoat so that the government could
wipe its hands clean and duck all responsibility. Why was I the likely
candidate? It's very simple. While the other so-called leaders were hiding and
meeting and telling the people "things were fine," we were organizing
the people to present their grievances to the city. We exposed the Police
Department to be the terroristic organization that it is in Harlem. We were in
the streets giving the leadership and we would not be bought off. And, of
course, I am a communist!

You have also displayed your weakness because the apparatus
of the state of New York, in conjunction with the Federal government, has
fabricated a case (and not a very good one, as even your District Attorney
admitted in his summation) against one man. Even if you say that there were six
so-called co-conspirators, are you foolish enough to believe that six people
could plan to start, start and continue a "riot" in Harlem and then
miraculously shift them to Brooklyn? If you have worked yourself up into
believing this nonsense, then, with all of your spies, stool pigeons, cops and
so-called leaders, you still don't have the slightest knowledge of the Black
communities.

Is it just Bill Epton that you want to jail or is your
long-range objective to try to destroy the Progressive Labor Party? As we have
said earlier, it's no problem for the tremendousU.S. government to jail
Bill Epton. But you cannot destroy the ProgressiveLaborParty,
because the Progressive Labor Party is an organization that has ideas like mine.
You can jail people, but since recorded history no idea has ever been jailed
 and don't think it hasn't been tried by other governments before yours came
into existence!

No matter haw many of us you put into your jails you will
never be able to destroy or jail the ideas that we hold, that thousands of other
Americans hold, the dominant ideas in the world today, the ideas of freedom,
national liberation and socialism.

You see, this system is caught on the "horns of a
dilemma." It is so rich, so corrupt and so involved in its own lies that it
believes that the individual is everything. That by building up or tearing down
an individual they can control the masses of the people. This entire concept is
in the history of this country arid permeates its thinking  that individuals
make and determine the course of mankind. Thus they jail dissenters and what
happens?  dissension grows, and more are jailed and the process continues. It
will continue until that section of the Walter-McCarren Act that provided
for the setting up and use of concentration camps will be utilized. For those
who doubt, read the Nation magazine that has detailed where these camps
have been set up.

Was Bill Epton in Watts, Chicago, Rochester, Birmingham ?

What else do they do under this misapprehension that by
jailing or killing individuals they can stop the course of history? They have
assassinated Patrice Lumumba, but, the national liberation movement continues to
exist and grow. They assassinated Malcolm X and that hasn't stopped the upsurge
of the Black people here for national liberation. They have jailed and finally
caused the death of Albizu Campos  the great leader of the Puerto Rican
people  but the Puerto Rican people are still fighting for, and will win,
their independence. There are numerable other examples.

Now we know, we Marxists know, that history is not made by
individuals but by the masses of the people  the great restless mass of
people who are fed up with being oppressed. So you jail and assassinate, but
somehow the struggle against oppression continues. I ask you, was Bill Epton
in Watts, Los Angeles?

Just like in New York they buried their heads in the sand.
Instead of jailing Police Chief Parker, they set up a commission headed by the
arch-criminal, former head of the CIA, John McCone. And just like in Harlem,
they are not going to solve the problems of the people. They will look for
another scapegoat and blame it on "outside agitators" because
"our niggers are good and peaceful niggers."

This system can only be done away with  not reformed

This system cannot solve the problems that confront the Black
people in this country nor can it solve the problems of the workers in general.
You may have been successful so farin buying off some of the so-called
leaders, but can you buy off the 16 million near-starving people that live in
the mountains of Appalachia? No, you can't unless this system is changed!

Can you continue to buy off the hundreds of thousands of
Black tenant farmers and sharecroppers who barely subsist in the Black Belt? No,
you can't without a basic policyof agrarian reform, and this system will
not institute such a policy!

Canyou continue to buy off those Black people that
you have built a color-class barrier around in the ghettos across the length and
breadth of this land? No, you will not be able to!

Can you continue to buy off the modern day slave, commonly
called "migrant farmers" who travel around the country with all their
earthly belongings in a cardboard box? No you can't!

Just as the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee saw
the light, so will others. I quote from their statement of January 6:

"We believe the United States government has been
deceptive in its claims of concern for the freedom of the Vietnamese people,
just as the government has been deceptive in claiming concern for the freedom
of colored people in such other countries as the Dominican Republic, the
Congo, South Africa, Rhodesia and in the United States itself.

"We, the Student Non-violent Coordinating
Committee, have beeninvolved in the Black people's struggle for
liberation and self-determination in this country for the past five years. Our
work, particularly in the South, has taught us that the United States
government has never guaranteed the freedom of oppressed citizens, and is not
yet truly determined to end the rule of terror and oppression within its own
borders.

"We ourselves have often been victims of violence and
confinement executed by United States governmental officials. We recall the
numerous persons who have been murdered in the South because they demanded
their civil and human rights, and whose murderers have been allowed to escape
penalties for their crimes.

"The murder of Samuel Younge in Tuskegee, Alabama, is
no different than the murder of peasants in Vietnam, for both Younge and the
Vietnamese sought and are seeking, to secure the rights guaranteed them by
law. In each case, the United States government bares a great responsibility
for their deaths.

"Samuel Younge was murdered because United States law
is not being enforced. Vietnamese are murdered because the United States is
pursuing an aggressive policy in violation of international law. The United
States is no respecter of person or law when such persons or laws run counter
to its desires.

"We question, then, the ability and even the desire of
the United States government to guarantee free elections abroad. We maintain
that our country's cry of 'preserve freedom in the world' is a hypocritical
mask behind which it squashes liberation movements which are not bound and
refuse to be bound by the experiences of United States Cold war policies.

"We take note of the fact that 60 per cent of the
draftees from this country are Negroes called on to stifle the liberation of
Vietnam, to preserve a 'democracy' which does not exist for them at home.

"We ask, where is the draft for the freedom
fight?"

Our patience is great; but even great things wither away

Do you think you will always be able to throw a few crumbs to
our people and say, "Okay, everything is fine."? I think not! Are you
laboring under the illusions that Black mothers will continue to see their
babies die before they are able to walk and not fight against the system that
makes their death possible?

Are you laboring under the illusion that Black people will
continue to allow their loved ones to cough and spit their lives away with
tuberculosis without realizing that this is happening because they are living
under a system that regards them as sub-human?

Do you have the illusion that people who are constantly, and,
in many cases, permanently unemployed, will not say, "We have had enough;
either you give us jobs or we'll get a system that will!"?

Do you think that you can continue to sell this phony
electoral system to the people when all they see is one fraud after another?
When they see the Georgia Legislature deny a Black man his seat because he is
opposed to the war in Vietnam  why aren't they calling for the ouster of the
murderers who sit in Washington, who advocate and are planning on dropping bombs
on everyone who doesn't agree with them  and who are doing it?

Do you think that you can suppress the young people, both
black and white, who have no fear of McCarthyism (and its now more subtle form)?
No, you can't. Because they have very few illusions about the system and they
hate it

Will mothers begin to realize that their children are being
cheated from realizing their full potential because of an educational system
that has no intention of educating them? When these mothers become fully aware
of this, they themselves will begin to tear at this rotten system. When the full
realization reaches the Black people that dope is brought into their communities
to further subjugate them, they will know then that it is a system that makes
profit off of their misery that is their real enemy.

Will the American people not organize against this system
when it becomes obvious to them, as it is now obvious to the Black people, that
the police all around this country will be the stormtroopers that will be used
against them when they protest their conditions? The Black people know that the
American Nazi Party, the Ku Klux Klan, the White Citizens Council and the John
Birch Society find their most ardent recruits and supporters within the police
departments around this country.

And when the full realization hits the people of this
country, that their taxes and productive capabilities are being used to finally
destroy them in a nuclear holocaust, and is not being used in their interest,
they themselves will bring down this system with a vengeance never before seen
in the history of mankind.

Who was this 'jury of my peers'...?

I said earlier that I would discuss the question of the 12
jurors that were supposed to have been my "peers." I will now address
a few remarks to that subject.

I must say that I only feel deep sorrow for them. I do not
accuse them of any crime except the crime of being products of this system. They
were sold a "bill of goods" and they bought it!

I am sure if we asked most of them, in the quiet of their
home, what they found me "guilty" of, they would not be able to tell
us. And if we ask them if they were "objective" in their
deliberations, they would say yes.

If we were to ask them, as we did during the jury selection,
if they have any prejudices against communists, they would say no, most
emphatically!

If we were to ask them if they have any prejudices against
Black people, they would say no, also, most emphatically! And we could go on and
on with these questions and they would give "right answers."

Were they dishonest? I don't know if we could say that, but
let's examine the facts and then draw our conclusions.

First of all, we live in a country where racism and the
ideology of white supremacy is synonymous with the American Way of Life.
Where, since 1619, and one time written in the Constitution, the Black man has
not been considered a real man.

We live in a country where racism has deep roots!

We live in a country where the main communication media spews
forth racism  racism is everywhere! To boil it all down, there are very, very
few white people  and yes, some black people also  who are not affected by
the ideology of white supremacy.

But in so-called "liberal" New York, racism is not
supposed to exist, so it is not admitted, and, for that matter, how many white
people in New York will publicly admit that they are racists?

Secondly, we also live in a country whose government, for at
least twenty years, has carried out a systematic anti-communist campaign. They
have hunted and looked for communists in every nook and cranny. They have
persecuted and jailed communists, those who might have sympathized with them,
and those people who have genuine liberal views. They have accused communists of
every dastardly crime imaginable, and even invented new ones.

In fact, good honest people who had no politics at all were
even afraid to use the word communist in public without looking over
their shoulder. And, at the same time, the government and its puppets were
saying, as they were locking communists into their jails, that "every man
has a right to his political views." What hypocrisy!

And, again  in "liberal" New York, most people
will publicly say, "every man has a right to his political views,"
they say this because this is what they are supposed to say in a so-called
democracy.

Now, these jurors, both Black and white, being products of
the system, went to the schools, read the newspapers and magazines, watch the
movies and television, and listen to the radio. These jurors are supposed to
come into this court with an open mind and with no preconceived ideas or
judgments and with no prejudices. That's what those 12 people said. Again we ask
the question, were they honest?

I pose another question. During the jury selection there were
people who came forth and quite honestly said, "I have read the
newspapers," and "I have an opinion." Were these the honest
people or were these the hypocrites? They were the honest people, and, as a
result, they could not sit on the jury.

I submit that every man, woman and child in this city had an
opinion on the "police riots" in Harlem of July 1964!!

I ask you, how could those 12 people, who, in many cases did
not understand the language of the ghetto, did not understand the Marxist
terminology, cannot, in their wildest dreams imagine the filth and poverty that
the people in Harlem are found to live in  how could they really understand
what we were talking about? How could this "jury of my peers"
therefore judge me and my conduct?

This "jury" of my so-called "peers" saw
fit to find me "guilty" of a crime that many of the best legal minds
in this country have said they can never understand, as you yourself have
admitted  a crime that, in essence, doesn't even exist  "criminal
anarchy!" In fact, judging from the questions they asked during their
deliberations, they didn't have the slightest idea as to what "criminal
anarchy" meant.

And yet, they still found me "guilty" of
non-existent offenses.

This further exposes the sad condition that many people of
this country are still in.

And finally  after everything is said, we must boil this
discussion on the jury down to its bare essentials. What were the choices they
had? The choice was to free Bill Epton  a Black man and a communist  on
the one hand, and the State on the other. To acquit me on these charges, no
matter how wild and absurd they may sound, would have meant that they would have
condemned the U.S. government, the State government, the City government and the
New York Police Department.

Yes, they would have to condemn this entire system. That's
the choice they had and in spite of the fact that more people in this country
are becoming conscious of the role their government is playing, the majority
still believe that sick slogan "My country  right or wrong."

I offer you the following which will best illustrate what we
are saying. If I, Bill Epton, an open, known, public communist, were brought
before this court and charged with driving a herd of wild buffalos through Times
Square on New Year's Eve I would have been found "guilty."

Every people has Judas' and Black people are no exception

This brings us back to the basic question  what was I
found "guilty" of? I was found "guilty" of having a
political view that is not popular or acceptable in this country today  it's
as simple as that!

Now a few words about the State's star witness. I will not
dwell too long on this subject because, in the final analysis, it has very
little importance.

I can only offer pity for Adolph Hart  pity as a human
being, as a man, and, most of all, as a Black man.

In the history of mankind there have always been traitors and
stool pigeons who have sold out their people for "20 pieces of gold,"
and, in his case, it was for less. I very well understand that he is a sick man.
Who else but a sick man would swear allegiance to a government and a system that
has enslavedhis people, murdered and raped his women, attempts to poison
the minds of our children and make them into the image of Adolph Harts? Yes,
only a sick man is capable of committing such a horrible act.

One can see as a perfect example a Jewish person or
policeman, living in Germany during the reign of terror against the Jewish
people, whose function was to betray and inform on his people to the nazis. But
we know that history, and the people that make it, are the final judges of these
modern-day quislings.

It makes me wonder about these people who have no friends
except their fellow betrayers, who are not trusted by anyone because no one
trusts a rat  not even those who hire them. They are loathed by society and
are probably held in disdain by their own families.

It's really not that important and I didn't intend to use so
many words on a non-entity, and to end this I must say that there have been many
traitors before him and there will be many after him, but, if my knowledge of
history and development of societies is correct, a traitor to his people has
never stopped the march of his people to freedom and liberation.

He sleeps the sleep of a drugged man!

And now, I, Bill Epton, stand before the court  found
"guilty" of being a communist, judged a "criminal" because I
dared to fight back and called "dangerous" because I have ideas.

I told you what I have done, and yes, I have done all of
these things proudly. I shall now tell you what I have not done and I am equally
proud of that.

My hands are clean can the U.S. Government say the same?

I have not murdered or enslaved 60 million African people!

I have not killed or enslaved one Cuban, one Puerto Rican,
one Venezuelan, one Costa Rican or any Latin American!

I have not dropped an atomic bomb on any city! I have not
used poison gas, napalm or weapons of genocide against the Vietnamese people!

I have not committed atrocities all over the world!

I have not used the Ku Klux Klan, the Minutemen or other such
paramilitary organizations to carry out bombings, murders, terror and all kinds
of atrocities, that equal nazi Germany, against the Black people and their
allies!

I have not stuffed Black people into ghettos to live under
inhumane conditions!

I did not create the condition in Harlem where tuberculosis
maims and kills my people!

I did not create the condition in Harlem where the infant
mortality rate is the highest in the state!

I did not create the condition in Harlem where children are
graduated from school and are unable to read!

I did not create the condition in Harlem where rats bite
children and run rampant!

I did not create the conditions in Harlem where one of the
major business enterprises is the sale of narcotics with the connivance of the
government and the Police Department!

I did not create the condition where the life expectancy of
the Black man is at least seven years less than that of the white man!

I am not responsible for the high rate of unemployment and
under-employment among my people!

I did not create police crime, corruption and terror in
Harlem!

I have never taken the life of a white man or a Black man!

I have never taken any man's life!

I have never committed one act that was not in the interest
of my people!

I am what I am. I believe in what I believe and nothing will
change that!

My hands are clean. I have no blood on them! Can the
U.S. Government and its agents make these same statements?

You may put me in your jail, but you cannot stop the march of
my people towards freedom and liberation, and in the final analysis, when the
last and most important voice is heard  it will be the voice of the people
who will make the ultimate judgment  not on me, but on the U.S. government
and those who carry out its policies.

Statements Of Support And Solidarity

New York Civil Liberties Union

" It is my opinion that he should not be held
personally responsible for the Harlem riots of last year. If anybody is
responsible, it is the City which permitted the conditions to arise in Harlem
which were so conducive to the occurrence of the riot. I also believe that many
of the overt acts charged against him constitute protected activity within the
meaning of free speech as it is understood in the United States. We are of the
opinion that the criminal anarchy statute is unconstitutional on its face
because it abridges free speech, in that it seeks to punish advocacy as opposed
to incitement..."

Henry M. di. Suvero
Staff Counsel

Ghana

" I am distressed by the news of the attempts to
railroad Bill Epton and others as scapegoats, instead of tracing and
eradicatingthe true causes of the troubles in Harlem. I feel
confident that in the long run the public opinion of the saner and better
elements of American life will grow and will prevail to the point where it can
succeed both in improving the general situation and in securing the acquittal of
all of you.

"In sincere sympathy withyou all in what is the
struggle for all of us."

"We had thought that sedition and criminal anarchy
statutes were outlawed. We join in protest against the use of nullified laws,
or any other kind of laws, to punish people for expressing their opinions. This
is a wanton violation of the First Amendment... The denial of bail to Epton is
also a violation of his constitutional rights and various court decisions.

"It appears that the common people are the only ones
expected to abide by the Constitution and the decisions of the courts. Certainly
the people in power do not support them."

California

"Recognizing official efforts to silence Black militants
within the nation, leaders of Los Angeles join (to) protest against the arrest
and indictment of Mr. William Epton

"The Black community of Los Angeles considers his arrest
an affront to Black militants throughout the nation, and that a successful
effort to silence one will lead toward the silencing of all."

"William Epton is not responsible for the riots that
occurred in Harlem, and he... is a scapegoat for the officials of New York City.
The actual blame for the riot lies at the door of the exploiters and leeches who
feed and live and even prosper on the poor of Harlem...."

Adam Pierce, Spokesman for SDS in Los Angeles

L.A. Non-Violent Action Committee

"When a white man kills a Negro, with the entire
community as witness to the crime, tried by a white judge and jury, he goes
free. A Negro merely raises his voice and goes to the defense of his... brothers
and he is sent to jail as being dangerous. The affair of William Epton will be
remembered by militants within the Negro community. The conviction is another
one of the many disgraceful and shameful acts against the. Negro.

"How long will it be before the other Negro leaders will
also be silenced?"

Robert Hall, Coordinator
Operation Bootstrap

Vietnam Day Committee

"The Harlem Rebellion during the summer of 1964 was the
result of police brutality, high rents, crowded housing, unemployment and
countless other indignities that the Black people of Harlem and other ghettoes
throughout the United States are subjected to.

"During the rebellion, Bill Epton maintained that the
people of Harlem had the right to actively demonstrate against the conditions
under which they lived. Thus, Bill Epton was clearly framed.

"It is not coincidental that Bill Epton was convicted at
the same time that radical opposition to the war in Vietnam has expanded, while
the U.S. government intensifies this genocidal war against the Vietnamese people
and is presently planning to escalate the war throughout Southeast Asia.

"Bill Epton strongly opposed the war and has urged his
brothers not to fight against the people of Vietnam, stating that 'the fight for
freedom and liberation is right here in this country.'

"We demand the charges againstBillEpton
be dropped and his conviction be reversed.

"We demand the immediate release of Mr. Epton."

Clint Hobson, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

"They say 'you're embarrassing us.' There's not a Black
man in the world we can embarrass. Can I embarrass those Black people in
Mississippi, in Harlem, whose kids have no clothes?

"I wholeheartedly condemn the shocking persecution inNew York of those who speak up in behalf of the oppressed Negroes in Harlem.

"Nothing more clearly indicates the hand of oppression
in America than the indictment of American radicals for having instigated these
riots

"The Grand Jury has returned these indictments

"Were I in New York, I should certainly be guilty of
trying to overthrow the Government of the State of New York. Anything less is an
evasion of responsibility in the face of brutality and injustice."

National Liberation Front of South Vietnam

"We deem that this new act of repression against the
black liberation and the growing anti-imperialist movement in the U.S.A. once
again exposes the reactionary nature of the U.S. government which in its home
policy, is violating the rights to independence and freedom of other nations, as
is the case of Viet-Nam.

"It further shows that the more aggressive is the
foreign policy of a government, the more anti-democratic is its home policy and
vice-versa.

"We strongly protest against the unjustifiable arrest
and trial of Bill Epton on the ground of trumped-up charges and demand his
immediate release by the U.S. authorities. We call upon all justice-loving
people in the U.S.A. and in the world to raise their voice of opposition to this
effect as they have raised their voice to protest against the aggressive war
waged by the U.S. imperialists in Vietnam.

"We believe that the voice of justice will triumph over
the voice of tyranny."